Metal News for February 3, 2006

We post metal news every day, throughout the day, covering thousands of metal bands including underground and unsigned bands. You are currently browsing the news archive, but you can also find news by band.

24 news articles posted on this day.

"What's up all! Finally going back on the road again! We are very happy to announce that we just confirmed a full United States tour with 80's Hardcore Thrash legends D.R.I (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles) It will go on from May 15th through July 3rd! Keep checking back at WWW.SUBZERONYC.NET or WWW.MYSPACE.COM/SUBZERONYC for the official dates. Help spread the word about the tour and DEFINITELY COME OUT TO SUPPORT IT!!! D R FUCKING I MOTHERFUCKERS!!!!"

As previously reported, Subzero recently signed a deal with Scarlet Records out of Italy to release "The Suffering of Man" in all of Europe. The band also posted the new song "Swingin From The Noose" off of their latest effort "The Suffering of Man" on their MySpace page.

I first met Sin, lead guitarist for Society 1, in person while covering the recent MY RUIN show at The Whisky A Go Go on January 7th of this year, and I must admit that he is one of the nicest guys I’ve met in the music business to date. We kicked around much killer metal music discussion, including the status of the next Society 1 album. I wanted to get more in depth at this point with him and really give everyone a much closer look into the mind of this gifted metal musician.More...

Four years in the making, the album is formed around brilliant conceptual lyrical ideas. Followed by extensive live activities during this summer and beyond, CELTIC FROST are more than ready to present themselves in the flesh after such a long absence.

Additionally, CELTIC FROST have just been confirmed as the headliner of Germany’s annual Rock Hard Festival. Organized by the renowned German hard rock/metal magazine, Rock Hard, the festival runs June 2nd to 4th, 2006. Further festivals headlined by the band include Germany’s Wacken Open Air Festival, Sweden Rock, With Full Force (Germany), Tuska Festival (Finland) and Hole In The Sky (Norway).

Shinan Govani of Canada's National Post reports that Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee nearly got duped into hooking up with a transsexual while partying in Toronto the other night at the Ultra Supper Club. "My body looked incredible, if I do say so myself," Nina Arsenault, the certifiable transsexual said.

Nina says that she was approached twice by Lee's "people" before she finally decided to go and meet the famous musician and reality-TV star. She "crouched" on the floor beside and looked up at him. "An old tactic," she says, discussing her technique. He then told her she was "extraordinarily beautiful." You, she told him, "look better in person." After that, they ordered two shots each. She downed hers quickly, while he, she says, "gagged" on his. She wasted no time, then, in calling him a "p---y." He apologized, telling her: "I've been drinking tequila since 7 a.m."

Things, you see, were going just swimmingly, when somebody took it upon themselves to tell Lee's bodyguard about the Nip/ Tuck-ness of it all, and the bodyguard then whispered something in the star's ear. "That's when he took a good, long look at me," Nina recalls.

A bucket of cold water seemed to come splashing down. "You know what? I'm dying for a cigarette," Lee was heard to say, as he got up from the table with his posse. "Great!" said Nina, as she trailed behind them. As they were approaching the "smoking room," however, Lee's bodyguard put up his hand and laid down the law. "You're not coming with us," he told her.

Tampa, Florida based Metal Legends DEICIDE have been confirmed as the headliners of the Arizona Metal Devastation Fest 2006. set to take place April 7-8 at Bulldogs in Glendale, Arizona. The festival billing is shaping up as follows:

"We are very honored to have a musician of Jeff's caliber working with us and we know that he will do a fantastic job in METAL CHURCH."

For more on Jeff, visit his web site at www.jeffplate.com.

METAL CHURCH are currently working on the follow-up to 2004's "The Weight of the World", tentatively due later in the year via SPV Records. The band's current lineup is completed by guitarists Kurdt Vanderhoof and Jay Reynolds (ex-MALICE), vocalist Ronny Munroe (ex-SAVATAGE, CHRIS CAFFERY, TRANS SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA), and bassist Steve Unger. A short European tour is scheduled for June.

Trivium have been confirmed to play alongside Prodigy and Bullet For My Valentine at this years Download Festival set to take place June 9-11 in Donnington, UK. More acts will be announced each week leading up to the event.

Trivium are infamously connected with the festival after they were moved to the main stage last year after their stellar performance on the Roadrage Tour. As a result the performance received a host of accolades including Kerrangs! 10th best gig of all time.

Matt Heafy relishes thoughts of last years event: "It was a rainy, dreary, grey, chilly morning in jolly old England last June at Donington Park when I remember trying to run in place to shake off some nerves and warm up before our bumped-up-from-third-stage-to-main-stage Download show. The doors weren't open yet, and goddamn was that the biggest empty field I ever saw in my life. I was nervous. But when those doors opened, Trivium was witness to a new beginning 40,000 screaming, moshing fans filled into a sea of bodies.

"Download 2005 was the turning point of our career, and after that show, people knew who we are and what we are planning to do... take over this world.

"To be part of this incredible festival again this year is an honor. Last year it made Trivium a much bigger band and I can only imagine what the hell this year holds for us. One thing is certain, it draws us closer to our ultimate goal."

Kalmah have posted several audio samples from their upcoming album, "The Black Waltz." Check out "The Groan of Wind," "Defeat," "Bitter Metallic Side" and "The Black Waltz" on the band's official website.

"The Black Waltz" will be released February 22nd via Spinefarm Records.

"Due to severe problems at the side of german agency Bruchstein Records, we have been forced to cancel our entire European tour. We are extremely disappointed with the way things have been dealt with, and as such have lost all faith in the whole operation. Rest assured we're working very hard to try and salvage as much from this wreckage as possible, and hope to do most of these shows properly at a later time. Our sincere apologies to everyone who has been waiting for so long to see us, and now have to wait even longer. We'd also like to apologize to Master, Lunafield, Ressurecturis, and Kragens. Just like you guys, we were all geared up and ready to go. Decisions like these are not easily made but as much as we wanted to do this, things have been turning rapidly into a farce. As we refuse to be toyed with, there really was no other choice.

"We hope we can rely on everyone's patience, so we can lay out some frightfully heavy Metal for ya as soon as we get things back on track!"

Sweden's Evergrey will make their first headline show in England. This event will take place on March 7th at The Underworld in Camden, London. Ticket info and other details at www.theunderworldcamden.co.uk.

Evergrey's sixth studio album, "Monday Morning Apocalypse," will be due out late March/early April via InsideOut Music.

Amon Amarth have been confirmed for this year's Wacken Open Air Festival, which is set to take place August 3 - 5 in Wacken, Germany. Other bands to appear at the festival include Cannibal Corpse, Children of Bodom, Emperor, Finntroll, Ministry, Nevermore, Six Feet Under, Soilwork and more.

The band has also announced that they will be playing a show in Örebro, Sweden on March 11th. More info TBA.

Amon Amarth are currently working on the follow-up to "Fate of Norns." The band writes on their website:

"During the past four weeks we’ve been working on new material for our upcoming album. In an unusual fashion – well, for us anyway – we’ve been working virtually every day of January to write new material. If everything goes to plan, we will enter the studio in May to record the new album. The release date is however not set yet."

After Forever had an accident with the tour bus in the morning of February 1st while on their way to a gig in Lille, France from London, England. Photos of the accident have been posted at this location. Nobody was injured and the tour with Nightmare will continue on. Tour dates:

Swedish film company Revolver, led by the director Patric Ullaeus, will film Children of Bodom's upcoming gig in Stockholm, Sweden on February 5th for an upcoming DVD release. Further details on the DVD remain to be announced.

Children of Bodom will be embarking on a three and a half week North American tour this spring with Chimaira, God Forbid and Through the Eyes of the Dead. Tour dates announced so far are as follows: More...

ARCH ENEMY's official French fan club The Dark Enemy Fan Club recently conducted an interview with former ARCH ENEMY guitarist Christopher Amott. A few excerpts from the question-and-answer session follow:

Q: Let us [bring up] a subject which astonished many people: Your departure from ARCH ENEMY. Could you explain us what justified your choice?

Christopher: "I wasn't feeling creative musically. I wasn't having fun anymore. ARCH ENEMY is a hard-working band and touring is great. But if you're not enjoying the shows it's no fun. I just wasn't into it anymore."

Q: Do you regret your decision?

Christopher: "No!"

Q: When you're looking at the past, what do you think about "Doomsday Machine"?

Christopher: "I haven't listened to it that much. It's a solid metal album with good songs and good production. I think ARCH ENEMY is one of the top 5 metalbands in the world and I'm proud to have been a part of this band. Everyone in the band is an amazing player and performer and Angela [Gossow] is fantastic growler and born to front a band.

"I drifted away from this kind of music, and I think it's better for everyone that I do my own thing."

Q: The day you send message to Mike [Amott] [that you were quitting] the band it [was] maybe a hard day for you. Do you speak with the band or just Mike? Which was the reaction of your brother Mike and the band?

Christopher: "It was a hard time, I felt like I was letting them down a bit and leaving them without a guitar player just before the Ozzfest. They were surprised but not entirely. Life goes on, we are still friends but we don't see each other that often. Everybody's busy with their own lifes."

Q: Which are your projects for the future?

Christopher: "I don't know. Playing in a band and being a rockstar is pretty far down on my list right now...I just want to develop as a musician and a person. Maybe I'll never do another album, I can't say right now. I'd love to do a solo album just the way I want it, mixing all kinds of styles and influences but I'm not hell-bent on succeding in the musicbusiness — I've seen how much work it takes and how most people in the business are sharks who wanna rip you off. I'm not very business-minded that way.

"If i do some kind of record it won't be metal anyway. I don't care if it sells....I know I will be starting from zero doing another style of music but it will be much more satisfying musically.

"If a make an album completely free artistically, just the way I want it and it only sells 500 copies, it don't matter, because I would be doing it for myself."

Ryan Ogle of Live 4 Metal recently conducted an interview with ANTHRAX singer Joey Belladonna. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

Live 4 Metal: You guys toured with MEGADETH last summer.

Joey Belladonna: "Yeah we did, the Gigantour, we did five shows."

Live 4 Metal: How was that for you?

Joey Belladonna: "Awesome. We're going to do it again next year"

Live 4 Metal: Really?

Joey Belladonna: "Well, we have been asked. It depends on what we're doing"

Live 4 Metal: How would you compare the metal scene of today versus the way it was in your heyday?

Joey Belladonna: "Well, there's a whole lot of music going on now so it's hard to say it's the same, but it's pretty damn close. I still see everyone being very animated, with the excitement of being here and seeing the band and liking the music and everything. There is so much, with the Internet and stuff. Things have changed. There are a lot of new bands and a lot of new styles. But again, we stand on our own, we have our own niche, our own style. So it gives people a chance to come see a different type of band. But overall I see a lot of similarities"

Live 4 Metal: I'm sure a day doesn't go by that someone doesn't ask you this. I read recently that Scott, Frankie and Charlie have been working on new material. Have they asked you to be a part of that yet?

Joey Belladonna: "I haven't had a chance to be a part of it yet. What happened was they all met up in Chicago, for different engagements, whatever it was it was all good because they finally had time to do it because we've been busy. So for us to be able to have time to do it, it's awesome."

Live 4 Metal: So is that the plan, for this lineup to record again?

Joey Belladonna: "I hope so. I mean that's like a baby step from point A. You write, you finish. And then you think about, 'Okay, what is the song going to be, you put vocals on it. Where are you going to record it? When are you going to record it and when will you be done with it?' And then you gotta think about when you'll put it out. You can sit on a record for five months because of delays in the label or the band isn't ready to release it because of whatever. But hopefully it will be sooner and hopefully it will come into play. For me to say yes and not know for sure… It looks good. It's only a matter of time before we should do something. I'd hate to sit around and do old stuff forever. We could because we haven't really played that much."

Live 4 Metal: What would you say is your favorite ANTHRAX album?

Joey Belladonna: "I'd have to go with those first two, 'Spreading' and 'Among', because there's something about those two records. It was in the beginning, I had a chance just to do what I was gonna do and make it happen. Nobody had any idea what was going to happen. The second one comes out, really good songs. Bang, it was tight. Those were two statement records. Even thought 'Spreading' wasn't as big, but what are you gonna do. When you get songs like that are so good, I can't refuse those records. There's some other good stuff. 'State Of Euphoria' [nods to a fan waiting to get said record autographed] talk about a record. A good record, a strange record. We had some time off and we came back in and the songs weren't quite the songs we were looking for, but it was real cool. Then you have 'Persistence of Time', which was totally dark. And I liked the position we were in at that time. Of course then it was done. It was over."

Dutch hardcore/metal band 37 STABWOUNDZ have entered the Tristone Studio in Maastricht, Holland to begin recording their new album, entitled "A Heart Gone Black". The recording and mixing sessions will take up most of February, with the mastering scheduled to be completed at the FineTune facility in Soest, Holland.

37 STABWOUNDZ recently signed a deal with GSR Music. In addition, the group announced that they have acquired a new bassist, Remko Tielemans (ex-ISLE OF MAN).

Melodic death metal band Shades Of Dusk has signed with Galy Records. Reportedly "sharing common musical bonds with Arsis and Neuraxis," the group's debut, produced and mixed by Yannick St-Amand (Despised Icon), will be available on March 21st. In the interim, you can download an unmastered track from the album here.

Blotted Science, the technical extreme metal project masterminded by guitarist Ron Jarzombek (Watchtower, Spastic Ink) and bassist Alex Webster (Cannibal Corpse), have announced the addition of drummer Derek Roddy (Hate Eternal). Roddy replaces Chris Adler (Lamb Of God) who recently had to bow out due to other commitments. The earlier tentative project name, The Machinations Of Dementia, will now find its place as the CD's title.

"Alex and I are stoked to welcome Derek to the fold - he is an incredible drummer", enthuses Jarzombek. "His skills and abilities work out extremely well for us since we are writing and recording separately and sending files back and forth via the internet. Derek, Alex and I got a chance to meet up at NAMM last week, had a great time talking about the project, and are all very hyped to get things moving.

"Derek will begin recording at Mana Recording Studios in Florida, hopefully with Eric Rutan producing, after Hate Eternal get back from their upcoming European tour. Alex is half way done recording his bass tracks for the album and will be totally done in a few weeks. Then it's up to Derek and me to finish up mid-year."

'The Machinations Of Dementia' will feature 16 songs, including 'Synaptic Plasticity', 'Bleeding In The Brain', 'Narcolepsy', 'Oscillation Cycles', 'Brain Fingerprinting', and 'Laser Lobotomy', and is scheduled for a late 2006 release on a yet to be determined label.